


The Butterfly Effect

by Story_Mage



Category: Total Drama (Cartoon), Until Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Character Death, Choose Your Own Adventure, F/F, F/M, M/M, You Can Play
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-14
Updated: 2019-07-16
Packaged: 2020-05-07 18:27:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19215067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Story_Mage/pseuds/Story_Mage
Summary: Total Drama Until Dawn AU. The Total Drama cast have decided to regroup with each other after five years, but little did they know that they entered a game of life or death. Can you help our cast survive their week up in Mount Wawanakwa?





	1. Chapter 1

_The butterfly effect - a phenomenon where even the smallest change in a complex system can have large effects elsewhere. A butterfly flapping its wings today may lead to a natural disaster tomorrow. Even the smallest decision can drastically change your future. Choices will always choose how the story unfolds, whether the story is full of danger or not. It is all determined by you. This time we are joining our cast of on the old show, Total Drama. Five years of going along with their own lives gets tiring, so they decided that a reunion was in store. A remote location up in the mountains, specifically Mount Wawanakwa, is where our story of life or death starts. Before we begin, there is something you need to understand about this story. Some things are beyond your control and sometimes you have to accept this in order to move forward in this game. That’s how life is. Though there is some element of freedom in choosing the right versus the wrong and each choice will open up a new path for our group. I want you to remember this as you play along with me to move this game along. Your choice will be only but a few, but every choice will affect those who are inconveniently apart of this story. So, if you are prepared to go along with this “game,” let us begin_.

* * *

 

The snow outside flurried down upon Mount Wawanakwa as the sun began to set behind the large mountain. Large trees that had temporarily gone into their seasonal hibernation were scattered among the location, only separating when a path was formed. Wildlife living among the mountain only moved to find food or to find their group. The view of it all was beautiful. Everything was completely undisturbed. Well, almost.

A bus was making its way up the mountain, only holding six passengers. In the far back sat the complex couple that became the exact definition of unrequited love, Cody and Sierra. The shorter of the two fixed his gaze out the window, following the rapidly passing trees with his eyes as he tried his best to ignore the hot breath against his neck and the tight hold on his arm. Sierra, on the other hand, was having the time of her life as she held onto the “man of her dreams” and cuddled into his side.

Towards the middle was the kind soul, Devon Joseph, or as he usually went by, DJ. He also had his eyes fixed on watching the contents on the other side of the window to keep his eye out for any type of animal that was active near the roads. His cellphone was pressed to his ear to listen to his mother wish him all the best while he stayed up in the mountains. He only replied with a few hums, content to listen to his mother’s voice as he hadn’t gotten to be with her as much as he had wanted to after his career skyrocketed. Sitting across the aisle, a row ahead, sat the two best friends, Katie and Sadie. Just like when they arrived on the show, they were glued together with matching outfits, giggling and gossiping. They were excitedly talking about the different things that they would do at their stay on Mount Wawanakwa, overall annoying our last passenger that sat at the front of the bus.

Our last passenger grumbled under his breath in annoyance before turning up the radio that he had installed on his phone. The cynic, Noah, sighed as he leaned back in his seat with his eyes closed, listening to the only news channel that he could connect to as far as they were.

“Today is the one year anniversary of the dreadful tragedy that took place on Mount Wawanakwa. Sheriff Emily Shaw who was in charge of the investigation is here with us today.”

“Thank you for having me, Martin.”

“Of course.”

“For those of you who don’t know about the incident, let me summarize it for you. One year ago, tonight, the Willow girls left the safety of their parents’ lodge and headed out into a snowstorm. They still haven’t returned and there was no trace of them left to be found.”

“Was there any source of foul play that could have led these girls to leave the safety of the lodge?”

“Not officially, no. Though there is one individual that we were considering as a person of interest, but his whereabouts are currently unknown. He has an interesting history with the Willow family. He had warned them against pursuing their construction project and claimed the land was sacred to his forefathers.”

“You know, there is still the old Sanitorium on the mountain. Maybe he is hiding there.”

“My officers did search the ground, but the girls themselves couldn’t have made it that far in a storm.”

“I don’t know. Something about that mountain just seems to breed tragic events among time.”

“A lot more than you know, Martin.”

“Well, Emily, the-” The host’s voice started to become distorted before cutting off and just becoming static.

With a huff and a click of his tongue, Noah clicked off the app and turned off his phone. _Great, no connection._ Noah thought back to what the sheriff was saying about the incident on Mount Wawanakwa. _'A lot more than you know,' huh?_ He furrowed his eyebrows and shook his head, brushing the upcoming thought off his shoulder before turning his attention out the window.

"Oh my gosh, I'm, like, super excited, Katie!"

"Oh my gosh, me too, Sadie!"

"It'll be so much fun meeting up with everyone. It feels like _ages_ since we've last seen them."

"I know!" The darker girl gasped before drastically lowering her voice. "What if you get to talk to you-know-who?"

Sadie's face flushed red. "Oh, stop. I don't think he'll talk to me. I don't think he even remembers me."

"Of course, he'll remember you. You _are_ the most gorgeous and sweetest person I know."

" _No_ , you are!"

"No, you!"

The two girls continued to flatter each other loudly with compliments to boost each other's self-confidence, as they always did throughout the years of being together as best friends.

The bus suddenly stopped, making its passengers jolt forward. With a quick reach of their belongings, one by one they stepped off the bus and into the cold, crisp mountain air. Without a second beat, the bus zoomed away. With a quick glance behind them, Sierra started to tug at both her luggage and Cody's arm towards the path.

It was now silent among them, besides the sound of their boots and sneakers crunching against the newly fallen snow. The group looked around at their new surroundings as they followed the trail. A gate soon came into view and DJ wasted no time in jogging up to it to open it for his friends. A quick thanks was given from them before they continued making their way to the cable car station.

A loud gasp was heard and the group stopped to turn to look at Katie and Sadie. Katie was looking around wildly as she held Sadie closely. "Did you guys hear that?"

"It was probably a squirrel or a deer," DJ tried to reassure her. "It could even be the wind. There's nothing to be worried about."

Katie looked uneasy. She looked around once more before nodding. "Yeah. You're probably right."

Brushing off the unnecessary interruption, the group continued to walk and only stopping when reaching a large gate.

Cody stepped forward and looked at the note that was taped on. "It says, 'The gate's busted, climb over. Duncan.'"

"Oh, that's great. I definitely wanted to spend most of my time here trying to climb a fence." Noah started to regret even agreeing to come.

Cody gripped the gate's bars with red-gloved hands and harshly shook it, hoping that it would open. "No luck. I guess we gotta climb." He looked around and moved over to the wall next to the gate. "So, who's going first?"

"You guys go first," DJ told the group. "I'll toss over your bags for you guys."

The others nodded and when nobody moved to try, Cody stepped forward onto one of the rocks. He patted a few stones to check which ones were safe to grab and he started to pull himself up the wall.

"Oh, be careful, Cody-kins."

With a roll of his eyes, Cody pulled himself over the ledge and carefully hopped off the wall. "Alright, it's not a trap. Come on over you guys."

One by one, they each climbed over. Sierra, Noah, Katie, then Sadie. DJ, as he told the group, tossed over their bags before climbing over himself. With a quick grab of their belongings, they continued down the path once more, but they were stopped again when a squirrel scurried onto the path and DJ made them all stop. "Wait, you guys. Don't move." DJ got crouched down and pulled out some nuts that he had packed for a snack. "Hey, little fella. You hungry?" DJ held out the food in his palm for the squirrel and waited patiently. The squirrel cautiously got closer to him and quickly took a cashew from his hand before running away. He put away the other nuts before standing up pridefully and following the others who started on the path once the squirrel ran off.

"That was so cute, DJ," Sadie told him.

"It's all about patience."

"Hey, I think I see the station," Cody spoke up from the front.

"Yeah, and someone thought it was a great idea to leave their stuff here," Noah said.

The group moved closer to where the bookbag sat on the bench. Cody looked closer at the bag. "Who's is this?" A phone that was inconveniently peeking out from the front pocket started to buzz and light up. "Well, what do we have here?" Cody asked under his breath.

 **Close the bag?** or **Snoop the phone?**

Cody bit his lip before reluctantly closing the bag. _Maybe I shouldn't bother with it. 🦋_

DJ watched as Cody closed the bag, happy that he chose to ignore the phone rather than the latter. He was feeling fine until he felt strong hands grip his shoulders and shout in his ear. DJ gave a shout of surprise himself and turned around to see Duncan laughing hysterically at his own little "prank."

"That was great! You should've seen the look on your face, DJ!"

"Duncan, come on, man."

Duncan let out the last bit of his laughter before clasping DJ's hand and pulling him in for a hug. "It's good to see you, dude." He patted his friend's back before pulling away. He walked over to the bench and slung on his backpack. He eyed Cody before playfully punching his shoulder. "It's nice to see you guys too."  His eyes lit up and he walked over to DJ, slinging his arm over his shoulders. "So, I found something kinda amazing. Come on. It's this way." He waved the group to follow him and DJ.

"Thanks, but no thanks," Noah spoke up. "I'm just trying to get to the cabin so I won't freeze to death out here."

"Yeah, it's really cold." Katie chimed in but turned to Sadie with a panicked look. "But we can stay if you want to, Sadie."

Sadie shook her head. "It's fine. We can just go with Noah."

"Yeah," Cody agreed. "I'll just go with Noah too."

"You guys are such party poopers. Fine, it'll be just DJ and me. The door to the station should be unlocked." He started to pull DJ away from the group and the duo disappeared around the corner.

The rest of the group shuffled their way into the station and saw that a car was already waiting for them, luckily. They each took their seats and held onto their bags. Cody, Sierra, and Noah sat on one side, Katie and Sadie sat on the other. Noah pressed the button to close the door and the car jolted forward before started its slow ascent to the top of the mountain.

"Wow. The view is so pretty," Sierra excitedly told the group. "Right, Cody?"

He glanced out one of the windows before looking back down at his hands. "Sure."

It took a while, but the car finally reached the top. With another jerk, the car stopped at another station. The group got prepared to get off and Noah pressed the button to open the door, but it didn't budge. He pressed it a couple more times. "You've got to be kidding me."

"Are we stuck in here?" Katie asked.

"Seems like it."

"Oh no. Is there anyone around?" Sierra asked as she pressed her hands against the glass.

"Not that I can see."

"Wait. I think I see someone," Sadie pointed at a figure who was wearing a light blue coat. The figure was looking down at a cellphone and slowly walking to where they were currently trapped.

"They really can't walk any slower, can they?"

Once the figure was close enough, Sierra started to bang on the window loudly to get their attention.

Bridgette jumped and covered her heart to try to stop it's now rapid beating. "Oh, geez. You guys scared me."

"We're stuck. Can you please open the door."

"Yeah." Bridgette pressed the button to open the door and the group immediately piled off.

"Oh my gosh. That was _so_ scary." Katie said.

"I _know_ ," Sadie agreed.

"I know. I thought we were goners. Another minute in there and I would've chewed off my own leg," Noah made fun of how the besties spoke.

"Ew, really?" Sadie asked, believing him.

Noah didn't respond, he only rolled his eyes.

"I'm sorry about that," Bridgette spoke up to stop the slowly growing tension. That happened with me and Geoff when we were on it too. It only opens if someone is on the other side to press the other button."

"It's no biggie. I mean, we're off now." Cody reassured her.

"Why don't you guys head up to the lodge? I'll stay here just in case anybody else comes." Bridgette suggested.

"Sounds good." Cody grabbed his bag and started to head down another path. "Let's go, guys."

"See you later, Bridgette," the besties chimed together as they waved to the surfer. Bridgette gave a small smile and wave back.

"Do you even know how to shoot that thing?" DJ asked Duncan with a frown. Back at the bottom of the mountain, Duncan was showing DJ a shooting range that he had found.

"Of course, I do." Duncan adjusted his stance and aimed his gun to one of the targets before firing a shot. He moved quickly, but he still hit all the targets he wanted. He smiled triumphantly and turned to DJ.

" _Wow_ ," he feigned awe. "Nice shooting. Can we go now?"

"How about you try?"

DJ eyed the gun warily with his arms crossed.

 **Shoot the gun?** or **Pass?**

_What will you choose?_


	2. Chapter 2

DJ eyed the gun warily with his arms crossed. He shrugged after a thought. "Sure, I'll try it."”

 **DJ will shoot the gun.** 🦋

DJ carefully grabbed the shotgun from Duncan’s hands. He puffed out a hot breath of air, not believing that he was actually going to do this. He adjusted the gun in his arms and aimed towards the targets. 

“Dude, relax.” Duncan said with a low voice, so he wouldn’t scare his friend.

“Yeah,” DJ took a breath and watched as a squirrel scurried onto one of the barrels where some acorns had fallen down from the tree. “Yeah…” He aimed the gun towards one of the marked sacks, making sure he avoided the squirrel. He shot the target, frightening the small rodent. He watched the squirrel run away. “Sorry, little squirrel.”

Duncan laughed and patted DJ’s back. “There you go, dude.”

DJ gave a half-hearted laugh before handing Duncan the gun. “Sure, now let’s go before we get forgotten by the others."

"Yeah, yeah." Duncan clicked on the safety before setting the gun down. A loud crow passed by over their heads and Duncan peeked up at it with a frown. “God, I hate those things,” he muttered to himself before grabbing his bag and shrugging it on.

DJ pulled out his bag of nuts and poured out the rest of the contents onto the ground. “There you go. This is for you, little squirrel,” he called out.

Duncan rolled his eyes before heading back towards the cable car station.

DJ followed Duncan, holding onto the now empty zipper snack bag. Something caught his eye and he slowed down to a stop. He squinted his eyes as he took a step closer. “Ah, dude, look at this,” he called Duncan over. He pointed at the wanted poster and read its contents aloud. “Wanted: Vincent Marlow. He’s wanted for being connected to a first-degree arson offence, as well as various death threats.”

Duncan chuckled. “Nice.”

“Nice? Dude, what if this guy is up here with us?”

“I doubt it. Courtney checked up on this place before renting it out. I don’t think she would let us stay up where this guy could reach us.”

DJ furrowed his eyebrows. “Fine, but I’m still not entirely on board with this.”

Duncan shrugged. “Whatever, man, let’s just hurry and head up to the lodge already. I’m starting to get tired of all this nature and junk.” Duncan turned on his heel and continued to go towards the station.

DJ only shook his head and followed.

“Seriously, couldn’t they have built the lodge right where the cable car ends?” _Now we introduce Heather._ She complains to her boyfriend, Alejandro, as she shivered from the cold. “Why did Courtney think it was a great idea to have us come up here where no one knows where we are in the freezing cold and we have no service whatsoever?”

“Doesn’t it bring back some memories of our days with Chris?” Heather glared at the Spaniard, who only sighed. “Also, the view wouldn’t be as pretty if we immediately got to the lodge.”

Heather looked around, ignoring him. “Where is the bellboy when you need one?” Heather asked before trudging off, following the path towards the lodge.

“We don’t need one, _mi amor_. I can carry our things.” Alejandro adjust his grip on the bags, which were mostly Heather’s, and followed her.

“Geez, it's so fucking freezing,” Heather started to complain again.

“Maybe if you weren’t wearing shorts that were practically showing your ass, that wouldn’t be a problem,” Alejandro muttered under his breath.

“What did you say?!”

“Nothing, _cariña_. I’m sure we’re almost there.”

Heather rolled her eyes and scoffed, knowing that whatever Alejandro said wasn’t exactly nothing. “It’s going to be weird seeing everyone again.”

“It’s definitely not going to be a big welcoming party with all the different feuds that some of us have been going through. Like… you and Gwen.”

“Don’t even bring up her name. I hope she doesn’t even come at all.”

“I doubt it. I mean, what do you think-” 

An unknown figure jumped in front of them and gave a shout, scaring the couple. Alejandro dropped the bags and immediately jumped into a fighting stance, while Heather jumped back and hid behind Alejandro. The figure laughed and pulled down his pink hoodie.

“Jesus, Geoff!” Heather walked towards him and gave him a push. “Are you kidding me?”

Geoff only laughed harder. “You dude’s should’ve seen your faces!”

“Geoffrey, that wasn’t funny. I would’ve punched you if I hadn’t realized that it was you,” Alejandro told him with a frown.

“Geoff, you’re a jerk,” Heather told him, crossing her arms defensively.

“Oh, guys, come on! We’re all friends here, right? There’s no need for violence. It’s just a little harmless fun,” Geoff tried to defend himself. “I mean, we’re all out here in the woods and it’s spooky. I’m just trying to get into the spirit of things.”

“The spirit of things? Seriously, what is wrong with you?”

Geoff scoffed. “I’m just trying to lighten the mood. Come on, don’t be like that, Heather.”

“Like what?” She retorted menacingly.

“Like the way you’re being. You’re always like this, Heather. Here I thought things would change for the better, but no, you’re still a complete bitch.”

“Hey, hey, hey,” Alejandro stepped in between the two to stop anything from happening. “Geoff that was completely uncalled for.” Alejandro leaned in towards Geoff. “And if you ever call Heather something like that again, I’ll make sure that it’ll be the last words you say.”

Geoff sighed and took a step away. “Yeah, sorry. I’ve just been stressed. Sorry, Heather. I hope that we can move past this and have a new start.”

Heather only huffed and turned away from him. Her eyes landed on their bags and she gasped. “Alejandro, where’s my bag?”

Alejandro turned to her with a look of confusion. “Huh?”

“My bag! The little bag with the black and red pattern. It’s the one that I got on our trip to Rodeo.” Alejandro only furrowed his eyebrows, telling her that he didn’t know what she was talking about. “Don’t you remember? I got it at that place that was next to the Italian shoe store where I got my stilettos and you knocked over the rack while you were flirting with that girl at the counter.”

“I was not flirting. She was asking about my accent.”

“ _Right_. Because she gave a shit about that. She just wanted to get in your pants.”

“Why do you always bring this up? I was not flirting with that girl.”

“Alejandro, I need that bag.”

“ _Dios mio,_ maybe you just forgot it.”

“Do you really think that I’d forget my bag? Do you?”

Alejandro sighed. “No, I guess you wouldn’t.”

“You probably left it down by the cable car station.”

“Okay, I’ll go check. You just head up to the lodge with the rest of our stuff so you don’t freeze to death.”

“Thank you.”

“I’ll be right back.”

Heather turned to look back at the bags before looking at Geoff expectedly. “Well?”

“Well, what?”

“You really don’t expect me to carry all those bags by myself.”

Geoff rolled his eyes before picking up Alejandro’s bags. “There, I took off half the load from you,” he said before heading towards the lodge, ignoring Heather who was complaining about carrying her own bags.

A bit farther up the mountain, we have our second pair of besties chatting away while they waited for the lodge doors to open. “...And then, after we got home, Tyler carried me up the stairs because my feet were hurting from wearing those heels all day.” Lindsay told Beth as she checked her newly done nails to make sure that they weren’t ruined yet.

“Awww, that is _so_ sweet!” Beth exclaimed as she looked through the tower viewer. “Wow, everything looks so pretty up here.”

“Really? Can I see?”

“Sure.” Beth moved aside to let Lindsay take a peek. 

The blonde swept her hair back as she leaned forward. She moved the tower viewer around and gasped in awe. “Wow! You’re right, Beth! It is super pretty.” She saw something move and moved the viewer towards the movement. “Oh, there’s more people coming.”

“Who?” 

Lindsay squinted. “Um, I don’t know…” Lindsay pulled away and fiddled with the dials on the side. “How do you make this thingy zoom in?”

“Let me see.” Lindsay moved aside to let Beth take over once more. She found the people who she was talking about and zoomed in. “Oh, I see them. I see Katie, Sadie…” She adjusted the viewer again. “Cody, Sierra and Noah.”

Lindsay squealed with joy. “I’m so excited! I can’t wait to see them! Oh, let's go say ‘hi,’ Beth.”

“Hold on. Let me see if there’s anyone else.” Beth moved the viewer around and paused when she saw two blurry figures. She zoomed in and immediately recognized them. “Oh, it’s Alejandro and Bridgette.” She watched Alejandro brush a lock of hair from the girl’s face and she frowned. “Whoa, _hello_ . Someone’s getting a little friendly and _not_ in a friendzone kind of way.”

“What? What’s happening?” Beth moved to only peek through one eyehole while Lindsay peeked through the other. “ _Oh…_ ”

The two girls watched as the two shared a hug and they both gasped. “Whoa…”

There was a sudden appearance of a face with bright nordic blue eyes, scaring the girls. The two girls shreaked in shock as they backed away from the viewer.

Geoff laughed as he walked around to enter the space where the two girls were at. “Hey, sorry about that. I didn’t mean to scare you two.”

“Geez Louise, Geoff!” Beth exclaimed.

He laughed again. “So, whatcha guys lookin’ at? Did see anything cool?”

“Oh, yeah!” Lindsay answered. “Everything looks so pretty out here!”

“Really? Can I take a look?”

The two girls exchanged a look before Beth took a step aside. “Uh, sure. Go ahead.”

“Cool.” Geoff took a step forward and looked into the tower viewer with a smile while Beth scratched her head wondering if she had picked the right choice. Geoff adjusted the viewer and immediately frowned. “Oh, that son of a bitch! Seriously, what the hell, man!” Geoff took a step back, shaking his head. “I thought he was done with trying to take my girl.”

“Maybe…” Beth struggled to say anything.

“Maybe they’re just happy to see each other?” Lindsay suggested. “I mean, I’m happy to see you!” She pulled Geoff in for a hug, hoping it would lessen his anger and make him feel better.

Geoff patted her back before pulling away. “Thanks, but I need to settle this with him.” Geoff stormed away from them.

The two girls shared another look before slowly following him towards the lodge.

_Now, here comes our C.I.T. She was currently staring down at her phone with furrowed eyebrows down at the cable car station. She had traded places with Bridgette in hope to get some sort of signal._

The host of this entire event tapped away on her phone. “Oh, come on. Is there seriously no service?” Courtney sighed as she paced back and forth, reading the email that she was trying to send to the owner of the lodge. All she had wanted to do was to show her appreciation for them letting her buy it for the week. She knew that the owners never used it anymore and none of their personal belongings were left there, besides the furniture. A loud thud made her jump and drop her phone. She looked up to glare at Duncan who was laughing to himself. She groaned and crouched down to pick up her phone. “Seriously, Duncan? I really don’t have any time for your games,” she told him as she wiped off the snow from her phone.

“Put your hands up where I could see ‘em,” Duncan said in a country accent as he picked up another snowball. “I’ve gotcha surrounded, ya crook.”

Courtney rolled her eyes and sat down on a bench. She placed her phone down on her notebook and crossed her arms. “Duncan, I’m not going to do this.”

“Oh, come on, Court. Just one game, that’s all I ask.”

Courtney pursed her lips and stared at Duncan.

 **Play along?** or **Refuse?**

_What will you choose?_

<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1AAB9HNeTnzNree4gROTC-eSzppluTVrTrNDnA7vRxXc>


	3. Chapter 3

Courtney rolled her eyes before standing up with her hands in the air. “Who am I to retaliate?” She tried her best at a country accent. “What choice do I, a supple, young, rebel girl have but to surrender to the strapping military guard come to take me into custody?”

**Courtney will play along.** 🦋

She sneakily stepped forward and swiped up a handful of snow. She smiled sweetly at her boyfriend as she stepped away from the station

“Ah, well, I don’t know. When you put it like that-” 

Using Duncan’s own distraction, Courtney bolted to hide behind a bench. On her way there, she threw the snowball at Duncan, hitting him square in the face. Courtney laughed as she  ducked behind the bench to create another snowball.

Duncan brushed off the snow from his face and moved to hide himself behind a tree. He peeked out and tried to move closer to where he thought Courtney was hiding. “Where are you hiding, little chick-a-dee?”

Courtney smiled and creeped out from behind the bench. She aimed another snowball at him and threw, this time hitting him in the shoulder. “Ha! Bull’s-eye!”

Duncan furrowed his eyebrows as he threw his own snowball at her, only missing because she had ducked and hid behind a tree. “Don’t worry, sweetheart, I’ll get you sooner or later,” he said as he moved to hide away.

Unbeknownst to both of them, a small bird flew over to land on one of the benches.

Courtney laughed and created another snowball in her hands. “Hello~ Duncan, come on out!” Duncan smiled and ran across in front of Courtney. “Hey, Duncan!” She threw her snowball, hitting him in the back of his head.

Duncan almost fell forward as he tried to hide behind a tree. He cursed under his breath, now getting a bit angry that Courtney was completely beating him. 

Courtney only laughed out loud as she ran over to hide behind two large rolls of snow-covered hay where she tried to create another snowball. “You know you can’t hide from me, Duncan.” The bird flew over to the hay to only get a scare when Courtney moved. It flew over to a nearby bench instead. “I know all your dirty little tricks.” She peeked out and saw something move. Thinking it was Duncan, she threw the ball. The bird let out a squeak of pain and Courtney covered her mouth in horror. “Oh no!”

Duncan came out from hiding. ‘Damn, Court. Look at what you did.”

“I know, I know! Oh no, poor birdy.”

“That’s just stone cold.”

“I didn’t do it on purpose!” She walked over to the now dead bird and crouched over it. “Oh my God. I really am sorry.” She stood up and looked around for her boyfriend who was now nowhere to be seen. “Duncan?”

She was suddenly tackled to the ground. “Ha! Gotcha!”

Courtney huffed and watched as her breath fogged up the air. “So, did I go down?”

“Uh, I don’t think so.”

“I think you’d know so if I did.”

“Alright, alright.”

“So, are we calling it my favor, then?”

“You  _ are _ a worthy opponent, Miss Courtney the Snowball Queen.”

Courtney giggled and pulled him down for a kiss. It was supposed to be romantic moment, but a loud cracking sound alerted them both. “Did you hear that?”

“Yeah, it sounded like something creaking?” Courtney was suddenly pulled up by Duncan. “Court, look out!” She saw a very sharp icicle fall down like a spear. She gasped when she saw it slice through Duncan’s light jacket and cut his arm. He held his arm in pain. “Shit! Fuck, that hurt!”

“Oh my God! Duncan, are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. It’s just a scratch.”

“A  _ scratch _ ? You are bleeding.” She grabbed his unwounded arm and started to lead him towards the trail to the lodge. “C’mon, I’m gonna fix you up before it gets infected.”

Knowing that fighting with her would do him no good, Duncan just followed her without a complaint.

Back up towards the lodge, we now introduce the dweeb, the homeschooled, the female bully, and our sister with a wicked attitude. The four watched as another group of four struggled to open the door.

“I feel like every time we see each other, it always gets weirdly different.” Harold told the other three.

“Really? It feels the same to me.” Ezekiel, or Zeke as he prefers, responded.

“You feel nothing? Maybe it’s because I read about those legends.”

“Legends? What legends?” Eva asked.

“Before coming here, I did some research on this mountain. Apparently some weird stuff goes on around here. Some say that there are wendigos that live up on this mountain.”

“Wendigos?” Zeke asked for more clarification.

“Wendigos are in some folklore by the northern Algonquian people. It’s a person who has been transformed into a monster by the consumption of human flesh.” LeShawna smacked his arm and he rubbed it to try to get rid of the now growing pain. “Hey, what was that for?”

“Stop it with all that mumbo jumbo. None of that is real, so stop bringing it up every chance you get.”

“Fine, but if I can’t talk about the Wendigos, I’m gonna talk about the murders that I read about.”

“Murders?!” Zeke exclaimed.

Gwen laughed to herself as she watched the two start to bicker on whether or not Harold should bring up what he read or not. She turned to the three boys that stood beside her that have been trying to open the door for the past twenty minutes. “Any luck?” She asked.

Trent pulled out the key from the lock and tried jiggled the doorknob again, hoping it would finally open. “Nah, I think it’s probably not even the key that’s the problem,” he told her as he held up the ring of keys Courtney gave him so he could try to open the door. “This thing is iced over.”

Gwen rolled her eyes. “ _ Great _ . I don’t think Courtney exactly panned for that to happen. Aren’t there other ways in?”

“No dice. They’re either locked or iced over.”

“Isn’t there, like, a bunch of windows?” Tyler asked as he threw his body on the door. “We can try to get one open or something.”

“That is probably the smartest thing I think you’ve ever said,” Justin told him, jokingly.

“Thanks!”

“Wait a second,” Trent intervened. “Are you saying we should break in?”

“What other way is there?” Justin shoved his hands in his pockets. “We can’t get through any of the doors, so I think a window is probably the next best thing.”

“We are  _ not _ breaking in.”

“Trent,” Gwen spoke up. “It’s either staying outside or going through a window. I don’t know about you, but I personally don’t want to freeze to death out here.”

He sighed. “Fine.” He pocketed the keys and walked down the small set of stairs. Though they were very insistent on going through a window, Justin and Gwen stayed behind while Tyler followed Trent. As they walked passed the others that were waiting, Tyler winked at his girlfriend before almost slipping on a patch of ice, making her giggle. They made their way around the house, looking for a window until they had reached the back, where there were four windows aligned on the wall. Tyler got closer to the windows to check them and noticed an empty container on the wall. He looked closer and saw the outline of an ax. _It was supposed to be there._ _Where was it now?_

“Yo, Tyler, let’s push this other so we can reach one of the windows.”

“Yeah, yeah.” He went over to where Trent was and started to pull at the small storage box while Trent pushed. Once it was underneath a window, Tyler immediately climbed on. “I’ll get the door open,” He told Trent as he pulled the window open instead of breaking it, to Trent’s relief. He went to climb in, but fell to the ground instead. 

Trent immediately climbed the storage box to check on him. “Are you okay, dude?”

Tyler ground and pushed himself up. “I’m good, I’m good.” He wobbled over to the light switch and flicked it on, only to have the lightbulb burst. He shouted in surprise. “Did I do that?”

“Here,” Trent patted his pockets before pulling out a lighter and holding it out for him. “Use this for now.” He tossed it over to Tyler, who fumbled with it, but caught it nonetheless. “Oh, I just got an idea.” He pulled off his backpack and started to rummage through it.

“What is it?”

“I got some deodorant. You can use it with the lighter to unfreeze the doorknob.”

“How is a stick of deodorant gonna help?”

Trent pulled out the can. “It’s a spray on.” He gave it to Tyler. 

“Oh, I gotcha! Like a flamethrower!”

“Like a flamethrower. You sure you got this, man?”

“Yeah, I got it.”

“Alright, I’m gonna go check on the others. Try to hurry, man,” Trent told him before closed the window and hopping off the mini storage unit to leave.

Tyler took a look around his surroundings before turning on the lighter and trying to find his way out. He walked through a door and saw that it was a closet. He went to leave, but stopped when he saw a torn piece of paper. He picked it up and read its contents. 

_ EX-JANITOR CONVICTED FOR ARSON. SWEARS REVENGE ON WILLOW FAMILY _

“What? That’s crazy.” He placed it down before finally leaving the closet. He looked around some more and finally found the door that led to the inside of the house. “Whoa! This place is huge.” He glanced over at a family portrait as he tried to find the entrance of the lodge. He entered another door and saw the front entrance. He moved to walk towards it, but stopped himself. He looked around and smiled. He  _ could look around before letting them in _ .

**Have a look around?** or  **Let the others in?**

_ What will you choose? _

_ <https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1U6_hG_ecBsbue7AttGcfu11VBgTnhPxTgJvLvpq6tuY> _


	4. Chapter 4

Tyler shrugged. What was the point in looking around when he could barely see in front of himself without the lighter?

 **Tyler will let the others in.** 🦋

He walked towards the front entrance and saw the top of Gwen’s head. I snickered to himself as a thought popped into his head. He turned off the lighter and crept closer to the door. He made sure that he was out of sight and took a deep breath. “WOOOooOOooooOOO!”

Gwen gave a little gasp and sighed. “Hi, Tyler, very funny.”

“Aw, man. How’d you know it was me?”

She rolled her eyes. “Shouldn’t you be getting the lock open or something?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m on it.” He flicked the lighter back on and took a step back. He held out the deodorant behind the lighter and pressed down, letting out a spray of flames to melt the ice off of the doorknob. He stopped when he thought it was enough and pulled the door open for the others. He let out a yelp of pain and shook his hand off to try to get rid of the pain

“Finally.” Gwen turned to the others. “Guys, Tyler got the door open,” She told them before stepping inside herself. 

The others followed her lead and stepped inside the rented out lodge. The first to finally gain entrance to the lodge - Beth, Eva, Ezekiel, Geoff, Gwen, Harold, Heather, Justin, LeShawna, Lindsay, Trent, and Tyler - set their belongings down in the main room. 

“It’s _so_ good to finally be inside,” Beth said to break the awkward silence. “Even if it’s still kinda freezing in here.”

“I’ll get a fire going,” Trent suggested. He looked around the familiar faces. “Is Courtney not here?”

“Not yet. She went to go get Bridgette,” LeShawna spoke up. 

Trent shook his head before trying to look around the moonlit room for a lightswitch or some wood. “I guess we have to wait, then.”

“Shouldn’t we start looking around and get into our rooms?” Justin asked. “I’m absolutely exhausted and I just want to sleep.”

“I think we should,” Heather answered. “We’re here already and I don’t see any point to wait for Courtney.”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” Gwen said. Heather wrinkled her nose at her, only thinking that Gwen was already trying to get under her skin. “Courtney is so picky when it comes to anything. She probably has our rooms picked out for us.”

“I don’t care about Courtney,” Heather snapped at her before grabbing one of her bags. “I’m finding myself a room.” She stomped away towards the stairs. 

The others looked at one another before following her to find themselves a room leaving Gwen, LeShawna, Harold, and Trent in the main room. Trent continued to look around with the help of Harold.

Gwen sighed and went to sit on the couch. “Aren’t you going to go too, LeShawna?”

“Hell no. I’m not going to be yelled at by Courtney.” She sat herself next to Gwen. “I may be crazy, but I’m not crazy enough to not listen to that lunatic.”

Gwen laughed. “Yeah.”

The front door opened and the rest, but two, arrived into the lodge. The small group - Alejandro, Bridgette, Cody, DJ, Katie, Noah, Sadie, and Sierra -  clambered themselves inside, trying to get out of the cold. 

“Finally!” Cody exclaimed with a sigh of relief as he walked towards the main room. He dropped his bags and looked around. “Why is it so dark?” He walked over to the doorway, where the light switch was located and tried flipping it on. “ _And_ the lights don’t work.”

Katie shuddered as she passed him. “Why is it cold in here too?” 

“I'm working on it," Trent told her from across the room. “Just try to get yourselves comfortable.”

“Hey!” LeShawna exclaimed as she got up to give the others a hug, to which Sierra eagerly responded to. “How are y’all doing? I haven’t seen you guys in so long.”

“I know!” Sadie clasped her hands together in excitement. “I can’t wait to catch up with everyone.” 

Sierra gasped. “We can even get a little girl time!” She looked at Cody. “If that all right with you, Cody.”

“Huh? Oh, yeah. Whatever you want, I’m not gonna stop you.”

“Where is everyone?” Bridgette asked. 

Gwen rolled her eyes. “Looking for a room.”

Bridgette moved to sit next to her. “I thought Courtney had assigned rooms or something.”

Gwen shrugged. “That’s what I tried to tell them, but they’d rather listen to _Heather_ ,” Gwen said her name with a hint of venom. 

Alejandro sighed as he passed the others who were reuniting with one another. “I apologize for whatever she's done.” He forced out. “It’s hard to keep her on a… leash. Metaphorically, of course.”

Gwen and Bridgette giggled. “You make her sound like a dog,” Gwen said.

“Not exactly my intentions,” He winked at them. “But whatever can cheer you, ladies, up.” He made his way to the stairs. “I must be on my way to make sure Heather doesn’t cause any more trouble,” he said as he left the area.

The front door opened once more and the missing two - Duncan and Courtney - rushed in. Courtney pushed past the others, earning a few strange looks, pulling Duncan into the kitchen where she knew a safety kit was. “Sit," She told him as she pushed him down to sit in one of the chairs. She opened one of the drawers and pulled the kit out. “Take off your jacket.”

“Whoa, whoa, I can do it myself, Court.”

“But-”

“I'll be fine. Just go make sure everyone else is okay.” Duncan took the kit from Courtney. He saw the uneasiness in her eyes. He clicked his tongue. “If it makes you feel better, you can stay and watch.” 

Courtney sighed and gently placed her hand on his. “I’m sorry. This is all my fault.”

Duncan shook his head and opened the kit. “Don’t be too hard on yourself.”

She nods. “Yeah, okay. I’ll just leave you to it and go check on the others.” She leaned forward and planted a kiss on his temple before leaving Duncan alone to bandage his own arm.

As she walked into the main room, Courtney clasped her hands together and turned to face the others. “Okay, so did everyone get up here alright?” She paused. “Where’s everybody else?”

“They went to go find themselves a room,” Gwen told her.

“What? No! I had everything planned out and there are certain rooms that the owners don’t want us going through.”

Trent came over to where the others were. “Is there no firewood or do we have to get some for ourselves?” He asked Courtney.

She sighed. “Duncan was supposed to get some.” On cue, Duncan walked into the room, moving his arm to check if the bandages were comfortable enough. “Duncan, where’s the firewood?”

He gave her a blank look before groaning. “Fuck, I completely forgot about that. I’ll go get some now.”

“No!” Courtney caught herself and laughed awkwardly. “No, it’s fine. How does your arm feel?”

“It’s fine.”

“I don’t mind getting the wood. Just as long someone comes with me to help.” Trent told them.

“That would be wonderful, Trent.” Courtney smiled.

“I don’t mind going with you,” Cody offered.

“Me neither. It can give me an opportunity to show off my muscles,” Harold said, pumping his arms. This made LeShawna giggle at him.

Cody walked over to the TV that was plastered onto the wall as the others spoke. He looked around to see if anyone was watching before going on the tips of his toes to reach the button to turn on the TV. He pressed the button and sighed. “The TV doesn’t work,” he told Courtney, who was now making sure Duncan’s arm was okay.

“Well, yeah. I didn’t have the time to come in and have everything set up.” She crossed her arms. “Plus, you don’t need it. We’re here to bond, not have our eyes glued to the TV.”

Cody grimaced. “Okay, no TV, but we still need power.”

Trent went over to the lightswitch and flickered it a couple of times, hoping that it would actually work this time. “I don’t understand. I swore there was a light working when Tyler and I were looking around to find a way in.”

“That’s fine,” Duncan spoke up. “It’s probably some faulty wiring, we can just go check it out in the basement.” Duncan pushed himself up from his seat. He clasped Cody's shoulder, making him yelp and rub the shoulder. “Come on, short stuff, let’s go check out the basement.”

“Huh? But-”

“What? Are you scared of going into the dark, _scary_ basement?”Duncan wiggled his fingers and made a horrible imitation that was meant to be a ghost.

Cody shook his head. _Duncan had actually wanted to go with him. For those times that he had called him a dweeb or made fun of him, he had never expected Duncan to offer to go with him… Though it could also be a trap and he could end up being pranked at the end._

 **Go with Duncan?** or **Go with Trent?**

_What will you choose?_

_<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1ABg23W1zh5YieAmMCMJOYkXzdAby3svvSCqxF2VY3go> _


End file.
